Chuck's Big Ride

Ride Day Twenty-Three: Lockport to Brockport, NY — 41.4 Miles

Yesterday was a great day at Niagara Falls.  It's a place a lot of newlyweds go.  Since we didn't get here in December of 1967, we thought we'd do our visit now, just a few months before our 50th.  Here's a photo that some folks kindly took of the two of us with the falls and Niagara, Canada, behind us.

This is a photo of the Rainbow Bridge from the U.S. to Canada, close to the falls.

We also had the opportunity to visit Fort Niagara and learn a bit about its history.  Here's the oldest building of the fort, built by the French and completed in 1727.  It's called the French Castle.  The French had convinced the Iroquois Confederacy that they wanted to build a trading post and call it a "House of Peace."  They built it to look like a chateau, but it has all of the fortifications of a typical fort.

Since we were only a few miles north of Buffalo, we took advantage of the proximity to visit Talking Leaves Books.  Serendipitously, our friend Jonathon Welch, owner of the store, walked in while we were there and we had a chance to have a nice conversation.

We stayed the last two nights at a motel about a mile from the Erie Canal, so this morning I had only a short ride on city streets before I arrived at this spot at the locks in downtown Lockport.

The weather has made a big switch.  This morning it was only about 47 degrees when I began the ride.  Because of rain predictions I wore a rain jacket, which also helped keep me warm.  I did get rained on a bit, but it was fine.

As for the Erie Canal Trail one could say it was the best of trails, it was the worst of trails.  Short sections — in towns and under bridges — were paved with asphalt like this.

One section was paved with deep grooves and bad potholes.

Most typical, however, was this crushed, packed limestone trail, which was usually pretty smooth.

Vineyards have now yielded to apple orchards, of which I've seen several.

And, if you think they don't grow big apples here, take a look at this.

It's actually an art piece, as this sign explains.

This was something I just couldn't pass without taking a photo.

The juxtaposition of the pirate ship and the canal was just great, and I couldn't help thinking how much I would have loved this as a kid.

I was treated to the sight of four canal boats traveling together under a lift bridge, something a local bike shop owner told me was a bit unusual.  He said they often travel in twos, but not so often in fours.

Here's a lift bridge when it's lowered, which I was able to see happen after these boats passed.

Though this was no where near the size of Niagara Falls, this falls along the canal was beautiful.

It was a rather short ride today as heavier rain was expected this afternoon, and is falling now as I write this.  I'm so happy to have missed this.  Riding in sprinkles is one thing, but this is far beyond sprinkles and a thunderstorm is still predicted.  I arrived in Brockport shortly after noon and we had lunch in Stoneyard Brewery.  We then had a chance to visit Lift Bridge Book Shop and talk with the owners John and Cody.  We're having dinner and staying with the former owners, Archie and Patty tonight, but I'll fill you in on that tomorrow.

Without the distractions of roadside traffic I was finally able to listen to a book while I rode.  I began a book that I've been saving for this trip — Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa. The book is set during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle.  It's the Whatcom READS book for this coming year and Yapa will be in Bellingham March 8th — 10th for presentations about the book.  The audio edition is available here.  The print edition is available here. 10% of all sales of the book through Village Books will be donated to Whatcom READS.

Ride Day Twenty-Three by the numbers.

41.4 — miles ridden

374 — feet in elevation gained (a pretty flat ride)

4147.07 — calories burned

0 — falls

0 — dogs

 

Ride Day Twenty-Two: Evangola State Park to Lockport, NY — 65.1 Miles

I started out a bit earlier this morning trying to outrun the predicted mid-afternoon rain in Lockport — more on that later.  It was a calm morning and I made good time on quiet roads for the first part of the ride.  I did see this sign for a club that I couldn't resist taking a picture of.  Unfortunately, it's a really bad angle, but I think you can still read it.

It says "Mickey Rats."  Great name for a club.

Today was again a music-free day, partly because I needed to concentrate on a more complicated route —you'll see below how well I did with that.

It was only a few miles to Buffalo, where I saw these appropriate sculptures in a park.

But it was in Buffalo where things went south, including my bike.  To be more precise, I re-earned the name "wrong way" Robinson.  The first bad turn was a legitimate judgement call (he said, rationalizing his mistake).  Bike Route 517 took a left turn in Lakawanna, and though I was pretty clear there was some reason they were routing me off of highway 5, I took the turn that led to the highway.  There was absolutely no excuse for mistake number 2. When I reached route 5 I turned the wrong direction.  It was only about three or four miles later that I caught my mistake when I saw the sign that said I was entering Hamburg, a town I knew to be in the opposite direction of where I was headed.  So, turning around, I headed the other direction on route 5, only to discover this ahead of me.

It's the Buffalo Skyway, a 109+ foot high bridge opened in 1955 — with no thought  given to bicycles.  By the time I was here I would have had to backtrack several miles to take another route.  So, I pressed forward, eyes focused on the shoulder that is barely wider than the bike handles, not even looking in my rear view mirror, thinking maybe Satchel Paige was right.  It's a very limited access bridge so I had little choice of exits.  I took the first one, after I-90, and found myself in downtown Buffalo. After a few tos and fros on downtown one-way streets I found my way to the Shoreline Trail, which would (I hoped) lead me to the Erie Canal Trail. 

Along the trail there was a platform from which to view the Peace Bridge between the U.S. and Canada.  Look carefully to the right of the water tower and you can see the two flags flying side by side. The bridge was opened in 1927 and is second only to the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor in annual traffic counts.

It's good to know we're still at peace with at least one country, though I haven't read POTUS' Tweets this afternoon, so I really can't be sure that's the case.

The Shoreline Trail continued to be somewhat difficult to follow, moving from trail to street without good signing, and in one case with the trail closed without prior warning, causing another backtrack.  However, I finally came across evidence of the Erie Canal and its trail.

Signage was much better along this trail. It was beautiful in spots with overhanging trees, currently dropping their leaves.  The downside was that the tree roots have often caused large bumps in the asphalt, which are now hidden by the leaves.  That said, this was still more pleasant than riding most roads and has riding the Buffalo Skyway beat by miles.

So, how did I do outrunning that rain?  Well, if we were playing horseshoes I might have scored.  I was close.  In fact, had I not been lost in Buffalo and ridden extra miles I would have arrived dry.  I didn't.  About twenty minutes out I began to feel sprinkles and could see rain ahead of me.  By the time I reached the spot where it had been raining hard, it had subsided to a very light drizzle.  Then, about five minutes away from the motel, the heavens opened and I was drenched.  I may have mentioned before that I call myself a fair weather rider.  That means if I look outside and it's spitting a little, I won't usually ride.  However, if I'm out and get caught in the rain, I don't really mind it.  It was warm today and taking a shower before my shower was no big deal. 

We're in the area for a rest day tomorrow and going to see Niagara Falls.  It looks like Friday, as I head out again on the Erie Canal Trail, will be rainy.  I'll just have to get myself out the door and I'll be fine.

Ride Day Twenty-Two by the numbers:

65.1 — miles ridden (several unnecessary)

1148.2 — feet in elevation gained

0 — falls

0 — dogs

2 — major mis-directions

Thanks to Beth Golay, who does the blog "Books and Whatnot," you can also follow the journey on Story Map.

 

 

 

Ride Day Twenty-One: Ripley to Evangola State Park, NY — 45.7 Miles

It was a pretty short, easy day today.  I'd downed my first glass of my favorite post-ride recovery drink — chocolate milk — before 1:45pm and was heading for the showers by shortly after 2:00pm.  A word about chocolate milk. This article from "Fitness" magazine makes the case for it being an ideal recovery drink, based on research by physiologist Joel Stager, director of the Human Performance laboratory at Indiana University. Read it, just in case you want another reason to drink chocolate milk.

The entire ride today was on the New York extension of Pennsylvania's Bike Highway Z.  In this case it's 517, and while the shoulder is a little bit rougher at times, it is wide and well-marked. Once again, I rode past vast fields of grapes.  While I often think of the Concord grape in this region, the Cornell Grapevine Breeding and Genetics program has identified more than 50 varieties of grape that grow well in this region along Lake Erie, Lake Champlain, and in the Finger Lakes. While there wasn't a lot of elevation gain today — less than 1050 feet — there was quite a bit of up and down over short hills, which I suspect were formerly sand dunes, as I was usually in view of Lake Erie, and often only a few yards from its shore.

I rode today without listening to music or a book.  I just wanted to think a bit.  I found myself asking the question "why this ride?"  Not in the negative sense of "why am I doing this BLEEPING ride?"  In the more introspective sense of what motivated this and what do I expect from it?  I came up with several reasons for the ride.

1) I've mentioned this before.  Lots of bike riders, once we figure out we can ride 50 or 75 or 100 miles, begin to think about a cross-country ride.  It's a bucket list thing.  Several of the folks I ride with in Bellingham have done it at least once, and our friend Dave Lippiatt has crossed the continent three times on his bike.

2) The book Younger Next Year by Chris Cowley and Dr. Henry Lodge helped me make big changes in my life.  This is not a magic potion, or fountain of youth book. Instead it encourages one to exercise six days a week and eat reasonably.  A few years ago I began the five to six day a week exercise regimen, and with some exceptions, have been doing it ever since.  The authors talk about using a "kedge" to motivate oneself.  I'd never heard of a "kedge" and expect many others have not either.  Here's what the authors say about it: “A Kedge is our term for Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things.  It’s setting a desperate goal and working like crazy to get there. To save yourself. It doesn’t have to be a self-inflicted torture. It doesn’t even have to be long-term (how about doing something next week?)   It does have to be reasonably demanding. It has to be motivating. It might well be ‘social’. And it’d better be fun!”  I've had other biking "kedges" — STP, RSVP, Grand Fondo Whistler; Mount Ventoux, etc.  This is my latest.

3) I wanted to slow down and smell the roses — or in this case, yesterday's opportunity to smell the grape vineyards.  It's a great way to see the country from a close to the ground (but not too close, I hope) perspective.

4) I wanted to draw attention to three fabulous foundations that I care a lot about, and to raise some money for their worthy causes.  This page will tell you more about the foundations and give you an opportunity to join me in supporting one or more of them.

5) Dee and I have always loved road trips and this one has been a chance for us to combine several things we love to do — visit friends, see museums and other sights, I get to ride my bike, Dee gets to read a lot.

Who would have thought that this trip would have taken me to such exotic places.  A while back I was in Paris and today I arrived in Barcelona. 

Alas, no Sagrada Familia or Park Güell, but there was this very nice lighthouse.

And, if that wasn't enough, it wasn't long until I saw this sign.

Which reminds me, we haven't yet seen the film.  It's received great ratings (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) and reviews.  Here's a trailer (not for the weak of heart).

Here's something I saw today that made me wonder why these signs weren't around when we were young and dating.

I expect young lovers might be disappointed when they arrive at the top of the next hill to see a pretty typical rest area.  Though I do remember once parking behind a zoo.  In deference to Dee I'll not tell the story here — not because it wasn't Dee I was with, it was.  It's just that I've embarrassed her more than once with this in the past 50+ years.

I came upon one of the most beautiful floral displays I've seen on the trip.  Mother nature really outdoes FTD.

At one point I saw a display of a quite different nature.

It's a candy/souvenir shop with lots of "statues" and large pots out front.  The one of the girl was gigantic.  Shortly thereafter I came across a store with quite a claim "The Largest Western Store in the East."  Take a gander at those boots on the roof to the left.

Ironically, it came shortly before this sign.

Cowboys and Indians, Eastern style.

We're in a beautiful state park this evening —Evangola State Park.  One of the greatest things about it is that it has perhaps one of the largest "Little Libraries" I've seen.  In this case it's a book case beside the restroom building.

But, more remarkable than the size was the selection.  Here are just five of the books from the case, all great literary reads and among our favorite books.  And, there were a lot more good books there.

 House of Sand and Fog, The Reader, Suite Francaise, Night, The Tender Bar

Ride Day Twenty-one by the numbers:

45.7 — miles ridden

1046.6 — feet in elevation gained

4582.68 — calories burned

0 — falls

0 — dogs

 

Ride Day Twenty: Conneaut, OH to Ripley, NY — 48.9 Miles

It's still very warm for this late in September.  I'm not complaining, just noting.  Though trying to cool off here tonight reminds me of days gone by in Midwest summers — take a shower and never get dry.  The ride today was pretty easy with little elevation gain, but enough hills to keep me active.  Within about twenty minutes of getting on the bike I was seeing this sign.

But an even more welcoming sign for a biker was this one...

...a sign designating a bike route, with an accompanying smooth, wide lane.  This was going to be a good day.

I decided that my playlist for today would be music I hadn't listened to recently, so I searched my music library for candidates. I began with Pat Benatar.  I've never been a Benatar fan.  That doesn't mean I don't like her music.  I just don't listen to her much, in fact, I'm not sure when or why I added this to my music library.  Had Dick Clark asked me to rate the music I'd tell him the beat is easy to ride to. I followed with Simon and Garfunkel.  I am a fan, it's just been a while since I've played this one.  It begins with "Mrs. Robinson," a bit of a nostalgic tune as Dee and I were student teaching when it was playing quite often on the radio, to the delight of her students. Others on the list today were the Yardbirds, Steely Dan, and "The Best of Doo Wop."

Wildlife, other than those slow-road-crossers, was a bit scarce today.  I did see this flock of wild turkeys (look closely in the shadows on the left) right by the welcome to Pennsylvania sign.  I just couldn't get the phone camera ready quickly enough.  It would have made a great statement.

The other "wildlife" I spotted were floating on a pond beside the road. Look closely.  I could have taken all day to get the camera because...

...they're decoys.

Crops here have changed greatly.  While I still see some soy beans and corn (more sweet corn than field corn), the landscape is dominated by grape vines — acres and acres for miles and miles.  I could even smell the grapes as I rode.  It was like riding in a grape jelly factory.

You likely know by know that I'm a bit obsessed with the nostalgia of baling hay.  I mentioned that from Bellingham, most of the way across the country, I've only seen the round bales or very large rectangular ones, except on one occasion.  Today I spotted this hay rack and it once again brought back good...and not so good...memories.

One of the historic signs along the way pointed out the old state line.

This was the sign I saw just before arriving at tonight's campground.

Today was the first time that I beat Dee to the campground.  The Rialta required some repairs to the holding tank system and Dee cooled her heels (and read, of course) at the dealership in Erie, PA, while I pedaled my way to tonight's spot. Erie was a bit of a challenge.  On the Adventure Cycle maps there's a bike trail pictured, but I somehow seemed to miss it.  The ride was interesting, but a bit odd.  I did have one near encounter with a car coming from a side street without looking.  Loud shouts of "WHOA, WHOA!!" from me brought her to a stop.

A three-state day.  Pretty good.

 

Ride Day Twenty by the numbers:

48.9 — miles ridden

1007.2 — feet in elevation gained

4894.72 — calories burned

0 — falls

0 — dogs

1 — car encounter (see above)

Thanks to Beth Golay, who does the blog "Books and Whatnot," you can also follow the journey on Story Map.

Ride Day Nineteen: Willowick to Conneaut, OH — 62 Miles

Yesterday morning we said goodbye to our dear friend Richard Hunt at his boyhood home in North Royalton, Ohio.  He was heading home to family...and work.  We had a great five days together from Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Cleveland area. Here's the photo of the two of us on the first day.

I don't know who is going to pull me up those long hills now.  A true Ohio native son, Richard couldn't resist giving us each a symbol of his home state.

The Buckeye.

Yesterday Dee and I had an (overly) ambitious plan to take advantage of our rest day in Cleveland.  We were going to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Museum of Art.  We arrived at the Rock Museum just at opening at 10am and, had we spent as much time as we really could have, would have been kicked out at 5:30.  As it was, we stayed until a little after four and then headed off to get "lunch." I couldn't resist this pose on our arrival.

There was a Bellingham connection here.  I forgot to take the photo of the poster, but I did get a very bad photo of the description, which is very hard to read, but it's about the Posies, the band that was fronted by Bellinghamsters John Auer and Ken Stringfellow, who, both now living in Europe, continue to perform both individually and together.  It was great to see them mentioned in the museum.

On our way out we had a chance to tour the bus that Johnny Cash toured in for years.  He, June Carter, and their son, John Carter Cash, each had separate compartments in the bus.  Johnny's was lined with illegally imported hardwood from Jamaica that was smuggled in especially for the bus.  We tried to trade our Rialta for it, but weren't successful. 

Just because we missed seeing the Cleveland Museum of Art, I wouldn't want you to think we missed seeing art.  First, there were many great concert posters at the Rock museum, including this one that promotes a show with the Doors, Chuck Berry, Big Brother and the Holding Company and others.  The reason we were so interested in this one is the groups performed for six nights, including December 30, 1967, the night of our wedding.

A few blocks away, on our way to the Urban Farmer restaurant, a place where I'd eaten when I was in Cleveland three years ago for a community foundation convention, we spotted this sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. 

I've been a big fan of their work for years. Seattle has the Typewriter Eraser Scale X at Sculpture Park, and Minneapolis has Spoonbridge and Cherry.  I'm not sure this qualifies as art, but this sign got our attention and might really be considered satiric art.

The early part of this morning's ride was on quiet, suburban streets, followed by a sign any biker loves to see, especially when accompanied by a well-marked, well-paved lane.

The roads varied greatly today.  Some had very narrow and rough shoulders.  Others were wide, quiet country roads with varying surfaces. Once again, most drivers were very respectful and gave a wide berth.

I chose to ride without music for the first part of the day, maybe two and a half hours.  I spent the time thinking about the past few days, our Cleveland visit yesterday included.  As one comment noted the other night, "Cleveland is no longer the mistake on the lake."  We really want to come back to visit here again, and to see the art museum.

Later, perhaps in honor of yesterday's visit, I cranked up a Rock Anthems album, then Linda Ronstadt, a longtime favorite who we saw in concert in L.A. back in 1977.  I ended the day with Jake Shimabukuro, my favorite ukulele player.  I own three ukes, which I don't play often, and I vacillate between being inspired and totally daunted by his playing.  Either way, I love to hear him.  I think I went through the album at least one and a half times before arriving at the campground.

Fairly early today I spotted this gaggle of geese on the grounds of an elementary school.  They are sure pretty birds to see, but they leave a real mess.  The photo only shows about half of the geese that were in the school yard.

As far as other wildlife, most of what I've seen in Ohio are those that haven't made it across the road.  I've seen many raccoons, several possums, and a number of carcasses that were unidentifiable.  I imagine that the urbanization of the area has concentrated these smaller animals in places were there is a lot of traffic to contend with.  It's not such a pleasant sight, and sometimes not such a pleasant odor.

There were two semi-encounters with dogs today, very close together.  In the first case, a medium sized black dog came straight at me.  I yelled "NO" and pedaled faster, leaving him behind.  In the second case, a ways farther on, a dog who could have been the first dog's cousin began to rush toward the bike then ran along side a bit, barking as we went.  I also left him behind.  So, no harm, no foul.

 There were often views of Lake Erie today as much of the route was near the lake.  That will continue tomorrow when I have the chance to ride in three states in one day.  I'll begin here in Ohio and in about quarter of an hour ride into Pennsylvania.  Later in the day we'll end up in New York State.

Ride Day Nineteen by the numbers:

62 — miles ridden

1036.7 — feet in elevation gained

6200.89 — calories burned

0 — falls

2 — dogs (see above)

 

 

 

Ride Day Eighteen: Sandusky to North Royalton, OH — 58.2 Miles

Last night's stay in Marblehead was terrific.  We arrived early afternoon and after cooling down, showering, writing the blog, and letting Richard take care of some business, we headed out to an early dinner.  The traditional yellow perch dinner hit the spot, and was followed by Vernors Ginger Ale floats at Netty's.

This close-up might explain the smiles on Dee's and Richard's faces.

I was introduced to Vernors years ago by Dee's family in Nebraska.  Their relatives in Michigan (Vernors is a Detroit product) would always bring some when they came to visit.  In later years Vernors could be found outside the Michigan area, and we've always been fans.  Add a lot of soft-serve ice cream and it's hard to beat this treat, especially after a day on the bike.

Appetites sated, we headed over to see the Marblehead Light House, where Dee snapped this shot of me.  A friend, who saw this photo made a sideways comment about the name of the lighthouse and my head.

,

From the area around the lighthouse there are great views of Lake Erie.  The first photo is of the islands in the lake, the second is of Cedar Point Amusement Park, the second oldest operating amusement park in the country, the 16 roller coasters — the second largest collection in the country.

Wishing to avoid the 50-mile backtrack along the spit that runs out into Lake Erie to Marblehead, we drove across Sandusky Bay to ...Sandusky, where we began our morning ride.  Much of the ride in the early part of the day was along U.S. 6, a road whose Midwestern portions I know well — it ran about 20 miles north of my hometown in Illinois, and right through Dee's home town of Hastings, Nebraska. In these parts route 6 has some special designations, as this sign indicates.

Wearing the Whatcom Community College jersey today reminded me of how much fall gives me a sense of new beginnings.  In my pre-bookstore years I was a teacher and a special education consultant, and my year always began in the fall.  The book business reinforced that for nearly four decades as fall is the major release season for big books, and is the run-up to the big holiday season.  This year, in the midst of the ride I haven't thought about that much, but I'm guessing that when the ride is over it will seem like I'm still near the beginning of a new year.

Our first rendezvous with Dee today was in the town of Birmingham.  Richard has a special affinity for BIrmingham, because that's where the main office of AdventureKEEN is located.  But wait.  That office is in Alabama.  Nonetheless, Richard took a photo of a Birmingham sign to send to the folks in the main office.  I also took some photos in the park where the Birmingham High School had been located.  An attempt to save the building failed, but this arch was preserved when the property became a park in 1995.

We were fortunate today to be able to ride on trails on three occasions.  One of the early ones was only a mile and a half long, but even that relief from riding on roads and being able to talk was welcome.  Later we stumbled upon a trail that caused us to reroute  Here's Richard at the beginning of that trail.

The final trail of the day was in Richard's old neighborhood, where he grew up.  We were on that trail, which is  part of the "Emerald Necklace" for about 4 miles.

On numerous rides I've seen the signs with an image of a truck on a downhill grade.  Today is the first time I've spotted this sign.

Sadly, the hill did not live up to our expectations, but I do still love the sign.

Richard, once again, came through for us for lodging.  Tonight we're in the house in which he grew up, now owned by his sister.  He's shown us around the town a bit, taken us to the Shake Shoppe for burgers and malts, and introduced us to two of his three sisters. We had a nice surprise when we returned to the house after dinner — a yard full of deer.  You might be able to see 5 deer in this photo, but we counted 10 in the yard.

Tomorrow we, unfortunately, bid Richard farewell as he returns home to Cincinnati.  It's been a great five days together.  I only wish it could be longer.  We'll have a rest day in Cleveland tomorrow, then push on toward New York State.

Ride Day Eighteen by the numbers:

58.2 - miles ridden

1235 - feet in elevation gained

5881.59 - calories burned

0 - falls

0 - dogs (except for several barking from afar)

 

 

Ride Day Seventeen: Perrysburg to Marblehead, OH - 45.5 Miles

We spent last night in Perrysburg.  Seems many things around here are named for a Perry, either Admiral Matthew Perry, or his older brother Oliver, who won the battle of Lake Erie...more on that later.

Richard captured this photo of me last night as I worked on the blog.  He commented that here I was in "the very sexy, bling-filled offices of Chuck Robinson Associates, working out of a KOA, halfway between Ohio cornfields and Lake Erie."

This morning's ride was a relatively short one — 45 miles — to Richard's Sister-in-law's & Brother-in-law's cottage in Marblehead, close to Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay.  Big thanks to them for allowing us to use their place.  We'll get good showers, real beds, and a chance to do laundry before pushing on to Cleveland.

At the 6-mile point this morning I reached the 1000-mile mark in my journey — half way to Bar Harbor, by my rough calculations.  Richard and I decided to stop for a photo.

It's not a great photo — Richard looks like, in the Beatles' words, he's not half the man he used to be.  It's also not a dramatic spot.  We just happened to reach Reiman Rd as we also reached this journey milestone.

We've been riding through pretty typical Ohio farm land, with soy beans and corn about ready for harvest — we did see one spot yesterday where corn-picking had begun.  There was this Monet-like vision of a lily pond, with barely visible water fowl.

At nearly the half-way point we rendezvoused with Dee at Flatiron Park in Oak Harbor.  The park is apparently named for its shape, which like the Flatiron Building in NYC, is very narrow at one point and wide at the opposite end.  A sign in the park explains its history and present dedication.

And, here's the original dedication monument, with its WWII addition.

In Port Clinton we were greeted by this sign, and I snapped Richard beside it.

Seems the Battle of Lake Erie was a crucial one in the War of 1812.  On September 10, 1813, the American Fleet, commanded by Oliver Perry, defeated the British, and Perry dashed off the oft-quoted memo — "We have met the enemy and they are ours."

Port Clinton is also home to a beautiful Ottawa County Courthouse, no doubt built from rock from one of the quarries that dominate this spit that reaches into Lake Erie.

At this point, just over half way into this journey, I'm reminded how grateful I am to those of you who have donated to one or more of the three nonprofits for whom I'm raising money.  If you'd still like to donate, here are the links to those three donation pages.

Whatcom Community Foundation:  Donate Here

Whatcom Community College Foundation: Donate Here

Book Industry Charitable Foundation:  Donate Here

Julie Arterio wrote a very nice story about the ride in Bookselling This Week.  You can read it here.

 

Ride Day Seventeen by the numbers:

45.5 - miles ridden

337.9 - feet in elevation gain

4555.95 - calories burned

0 - falls

4 - dogs —from one house. They began to give chase, but were called off by their owner.  We speculated that he was expecting some cold temperatures this winter and was preparing for a four-dog night.

Ride Day Fifteen: Grand Rapids to Nashville, MI - 50 Miles*

In honor of classes beginning on Tuesday at Whatcom Community College, I'm once again wearing their jersey.  If you'd like to support WCC and its many deserving students, you may donate here.

Today was the first of five days that I'll ride with my dear friend Richard Hunt.  Richard is the publisher of AdventureKeen. He was the first Oscar Dystel Fellow and the first book industry independent liaison, while working for Bantam.  Richard and I have been friends for more than 30 years.  Here's a photo of us just before we began our ride this morning.

In 1996 I was asked to travel to the Middle East by the U.S. Information Agency to help promote the idea of intellectual property rights and copyright.  I recommended Richard as a great person to represent publishing on the trip. At the time Richard worked for Bantam in Midtown Manhattan.  He would often go home to New Jersey at dinner time, tuck his kids in bed, and return to the office to work late.  One night, at 9pm in Bellingham, Richard called me at the store and said, "I've been asked to go on the trip with you.  Do you think it's safe to go to the Middle East?"  "Richard," I asked, "You're calling me at Midnight from Times Square to ask if it's safe to go to the Middle East?" After a brief pause Richard said, "OK, I get it." He went on the trip to Jordan and Morocco, and we had a great time.

We've seen each other many times over the years, but seldom have had much time to spend together.  I'm really looking forward to these five days.

I think I should explain the asterisk on the 50 Miles in the title of the post.  I had innumerable problems with my apps today and don't have any accurate counts. This is the best conservative estimate using maps and Google.  I hope I have my apps back in working order tomorrow.

It's also time I confess that we took the wrong trail from Bowen Station Park this morning and arrived in a place we never intended to to be.  We were busy talking and apparently not reading signs.  So, rather than riding the diagonal SE trail through Caldonia and other towns to our destination in Charlotte ( pronounce "shar LOT" here), we ended up on the East/West Trail, going west to Cutlerville, adding roughly 10 miles to our travel, and about an hour — by the time we figured out where we should be going — to our travel time.

When we finally reached the quaint little village of Middleville, it was already time to have some lunch.  The place we stopped was right along a river walk and this nice woman allowed me to take her photo in an unusually large Adirondack chair.

Most of the rest of the day went well, except for Richard having a flat.  We think he may have run over an acorn, but we're not sure.  It only delayed us about 15 minutes, and we were on our way.  One of the most unusual sights we saw was this barn.

On most days the morning misdirection would not have been a problem, but today we had a deadline to be in Albion and we were running out of time to get there.  So we rode to Nashville (no not THAT Nashville, and not the ones in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, or Ohio. The one in Michigan).  There we decided to "rack" the bikes on the Rialta and hightail it for a quick shower and our appointment in Albion.

The reason for the trip to Albion was to visit Staci and Jim Stuart, the relatively new owners of Stirling Books and Brew (coffee this time).  Jim and Staci bought the used bookstore and building and began renovating it and adding new books.  Two days before opening in April this year, a shelf fell on Staci and paralyzed her.  The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) contacted them.  "We didn't have to go knocking on their door," said Jim.  "They came to us."  The store's opening was delayed until August, but now both Jim and Staci work in the store, Staci, for the time being, in an electric wheelchair.  Binc helps booksellers who have all kinds of economic crises — accidents, illness, loss of work, and national disasters like the recent hurricanes in the South.  If you'd like to help booksellers in need you may donate here.   If you'd like to specifically help Staci as she continues to recover — she was two days away from being covered by Jim's insurance — you may donate here.  Here's a photo of Richard, Dee, and me talking with Staci and Jim this evening in their bookstore.

Even with some misdirection and a flat tire, it was a great day, and how inspiring to talk with someone who's been through so much and still has a great outlook on life.  For those of you paying close attention, the delays today and our subsequent drive to Albion, moved us a bit farther East than our planned bike ride would have.  Our cross-country record shall always bear an asterisk indicating that we were short a few miles.  Don't worry though, I'm sure I'll get lost again and add miles.

Day Fifteen by the numbers:

50* - miles ridden

who knows? - feet in elevation gained (remember, the app wasn't working)

who cares? - calories burned (ditto)

0 - falls

0  - dogs

1 - flat -- Richard's bike this time

Ride Day Fourteen: Reed City to Grand Rapids, MI — 64.6 Miles

Giving Here Matters!  Donate Now!

I had first thought that I would listen to music or a book today, but then decided to have a playlist-free day and enjoy the solitude. I thought almost immediately of the book Quiet by Susan Cain.  It's about introverts, which I'm not, but Dee is.  If you haven't read the book, you really should, and it should be required of every teacher in the country. We have long known, as our friend Janet Ott teaches, introversion and extroversion are not about whether you like being around people or not, they're about how you get your energy and recharge.  Dee recharges by being alone reading.  She loves socializing, not necessarily at big functions, but certainly loves being around people.  But, that doesn't give her energy.  I love being around people, small crowds or large, and I get energized. So, as you might imagine, I don't spend a lot of time in solitude.  The time I've spent on this trip has caused me to think I should spend more time in quiet contemplation.  Maybe it will recharge parts of me I haven't been recharging.

I rode the entire day on the White Pine Trail, except for a short detour, which you'll read about below.  It was a pleasant fall morning and the first 14+ miles of the trail were paved.  So it was a good start.

Here's the sign that one sees at each trail entrance point.

There was little human activity along the trail this morning, but the wildlife were pretty active. There were lots of birds chirping and swooping, including a beautiful Blue Jay.  I saw numerous ground squirrels or chipmunks (I wasn't close enough to see if they had head stripes — chipmunks do, ground squirrels don't). I also had a black tree squirrel play chicken with me, dashing back and forth right in front of the bike.  If it had made one more false move I might have run over it.  Maybe I would have found out if it tasted like chicken.  I never hunted squirrels growing up.  I did hunt rabbits, cleaned them, and Mom or Dad fried them.  I love rabbit to this day, though I no longer hunt. I did see a rabbit that ran beside me along the trail for a few yards.  I think my brother Bruce has hunted squirrels — he's hunted most everything.  The only color squirrel I knew growing up were the reddish brown ones.  I don't believe I ever saw a black squirrel when I was young.  Now we have black squirrels where we live in Lynden.  I have very rarely seen white squirrels, but I've seen two on this trip, neither close enough to photograph.

Just before I arrived in Paris (no, not that Paris, nor the ones in Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, or Maine — the one in Michigan), I spotted this clever sign painted on the trail.

It says "Paris Swamp."  Indeed, if one looked to either side of the trail, there was a swamp.

After a rendezvous with Dee at Big Rapids to pick up more water and rest a few minutes, I headed south again.  Here's the sign a the south edge of Big Rapids (I missed the one at the north).

It was also at this point that I snapped this photo of the trail change.

As you can see, it rapidly changes from a smooth asphalt surface to two crushed rock tracks.  The trail conditions varied widely from smooth packed gravel and dirt to very loose rock and sand.  The trail was advertised as a crushed rock and grass trail and I had assumed it meant mostly like what's pictured here, until I came along patches like this.

For short distances one was literally riding across a grass lawn, but these stretches didn't last long.

I mentioned yesterday that our friend Lori Tucker-Sullivan was riding with me.  In addition to chairing the Book Industry Charitable Foundation board, and working as the Executive Director of the Independent Booksellers Consortium, Lori is also a freelance journalist and college professor.  On Wednesday her essay, "I'm a widow.  Why do people assume I can't handle going to a wedding," was published in the Washington Post.  If you have a widow in your family you just might want to read this.

If Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes (it actually has nearly 12,000 of at least 4 acres in size), perhaps Wisconsin and Michigan can vie for the title of Land of Many Rivers.  I rode today along the Muskegon, where I took this photo from a bridge on the trail.

Later in the day I rode along the Rogue River — I know, all of you West Coasters think the Rogue is in Oregon.  This one is not. Here's a sign identifying a park along the river.

There was one section of the trail that was closed, but clear directions on the sign identified a detour and where to rejoin the trail.  Shortly into the detour I thought that I wished I had taken a photo of the closed sign for the blog.  A short time later I wished I'd taken a photo of the sign so I could remember how to get back to the trail.  I did remember that I was supposed to turn on 185th, which I did.  I rode some distance, and up three pretty steep hills, but didn't see a place to join the trail.  So, I turned around and rode back to where I came onto 185th.  There I spotted a Sheriff's car parked at the side of the road.  I asked the extremely pleasant deputy where the trail resumed and he pointed me back on 185th the direction I had first ridden.  Seems I turned around about a quarter of a mile short of Johnson Road, where it was evident that the trail resumed.  So, back up the three hills and back on the trail. 

Shortly after getting back on the trail a car stopped at a crossing and it was evident that someone was going to ride the mountain bike on the bike carrier.  Trying to do my good deed for the day, I rolled over to the car and said to the woman emerging from the passenger seat "if you're going north, the trail is washed out and there's a detour.  She said her husband was riding south.  Good deed done, I went on my way.

When I stopped a ways down the trail to drink some water, the guy from the car —George Davis — caught up with me.  We struck up a conversation.  He's a "local" who lives in Rockford and works for Xerox in Grand Rapids.  He rides the trail often. So, we rode together, conversing as we rode, from near Stanwood, where his wife let him off, to Cedar Springs, about 25 miles.

Before getting to Cedar Springs I came upon this.

As you might guess, this is pretty deep sand.  George tells me that the Amish often ride their horse buggies along these trails —there was some organic evidence of that all along — and that when they're first turning on the sideways motion of the cart and the hoofs of the horses churn up this sand and keep it loose.  This is right after a road crossing.  When my bike hit the sand, it stopped.  I didn't.  the water bottle in the sand marks the spot where the bike went down. Now I have scratches on my right calf that match those on my left, acquired in the day-one fall.  Aside from a few scratches and deeply wounded pride there was nothing hurt, including the bike.  Luckily, as George pointed out, the sand made for a pretty soft landing, which rocks would not have.

When we arrived in Cedar Springs we stopped for beer and food at the Cedar Springs Brewing Company. It's a great place that serves German-style beer and food, and George and his wife Coleen come here regularly.  Coleen joined us.  She is the Executive Director of Alternatives in Motion, a nonprofit that rehabs electric wheelchairs and distributes them to folks who can't afford to buy one.  We had a great time talking about nonprofits.

Here's a photo of George outside the Brewing Company.  It was great to have an unexpected companion on part of the trip today.

Day Fourteen by the numbers:

64.6 - miles ridden

1364.8  - feet in elevation gained

6470.91 - calories burned

1 - fall (see story above)

0 - dogs

Ride Day Thirteen: Manitowoc to Reed City, MI — 52.9 Miles

 

I'd like to thank our long-time friend and bestselling author of Another Roadside Attraction and many other books, Tom Robbins, for making a donation today to Binc.  The donation will be greatly appreciated by booksellers in need, and the personal email he sent me was priceless.

If you'd like to help booksellers in financial crises, especially from recent hurricanes, you may donate here.

I began my ride this morning with our friend Lori Tucker-Sullivan, the chair of the board of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and Jim Dickinson, the retired U.S. Forest Service firefighter I mentioned meeting yesterday.  It was a beautiful morning, but the first few miles of road left a lot to be desired.  We were along U.S. highway 10, which often had very narrow, or no shoulder.  There was an asphalt trail running alongside the road for several miles, but there were frequent curbs that one must go down and up.  So, at the first opportunity we headed south and found another eastbound road to take us to Baldwin, where the Pere Marquette Trail began.

Once we were off the highway the ride was very pleasant, if a bit longer.  The road was very smooth, most of the time, and the wind was in our face while going south a ways, but not very strong.

Shortly out of Manitowoc I spotted something I hadn't seen on the ride since leaving Bellingham on part one in 2015 — bales of "normal" size.

By "normal" I mean the kind of hay and straw bales I bucked as a teen in Illinois.  All I've seen are round bales and the gigantic rectangular bales that I wouldn't begin to be able to lift.  You'll see in this photo one rack of hay and one of straw.  I wonder if these were baled by one of the last operating "normal" size balers in existence.  There are likely more around, but it took a ride from Washington to Michigan for me to see these bales, and it brought back some good memories.

Later we spotted this vegetable stand and stopped to chat with the truck farmer who operates it.

It looks a little sparse from this angle, but there were lots of squash off to the left and you can barely see the beautiful tomatoes in the distance.  This guy grows 25 acres of vegetables and sells them from this stand, supplies two other farm stands, and does three farmers markets.

There were large stands of trees along much of the roadside where we rode today.  Jim explained that they were "plantation" trees, planted after the area was clear-cut many years ago.  He had come to the area in his Forest Service firefighter capacity once to do controlled burns of some of these "plantations."

By now, if you've been following the blog, you know my penchant for snapping photos of unusual signs.  When we saw this one we expected to see Clark Kent , but never did.

The other fun sign was this one, designating Viking heaven (alternative spelling).

After we stopped for lunch in Baldwin, Jim and I set out on the Pere Marquette trail to ride the last 18 miles to Reed City.  There was fairly deep limestone gravel in many places on the trail and it considerably slowed our speed.  However, riding away from traffic and being able to converse most of the way was really enjoyable.

One of the interesting things we saw along the trail were a couple of these old mile markers that would have been for the railroad, as this is a trail on a former railroad line.

Here's a photo of Jim.  I'm going to keep it to look at every day and thank my lucky stars, and my loving wife, that I don't have to carry all that gear.  He's already logged 3400 miles and he's more than 1000 from his destination in Portland, ME.  I'm not sure if we'll ride together at any point on the journey again, but it was a hoot, and I thank him for the company.

All in all, it was a great day.  The first that I had company on a ride.  Jim may be with me part of the day tomorrow, but he hadn't decided as he headed off for a shower and his hammock.  It's a bit longer day tomorrow on the White Pine Trail from here to Comstock Park, at the northern side of Grand Rapids.  I'll have a rest day there and be joined by our friend Richard Hunt, who'll ride with me for five days to Cleveland.  It also appears we'll have another rider joining us on Monday — Brent Bartson, husband of Binc's Director of Development, Kathy Bartson.

I've been listing the number of dogs who've given chase.  Today, as Jim and I were riding the trail, we spotted a dog ahead of us, running faster in the same direction we were going.  In other words, I believe we chased a dog today.  So, you'll notice in the "by the numbers" section a -1.

Day Thirteen by the numbers:

52.9 - miles ridden

1397.6 - feet in elevation gained

5298.15 - calories burned

0 - falls

-1 - dogs